1 . Welcome to the British Museum (WWW.britishmuseum.org)where you can experience cultures across the globe, from the dawn of human history to the present. Here is some information you need to notice.

Opening times

Daily: 10: 00-17:00(Fridays:20:30)

Last entry: 16:00(Fridays: 19:30)

●We’re limiting numbers of people in the Museum to ensure there’s room for you to safely enjoy your visit. You’re advised to book a free ticket to guarantee Museum entry.

●To book, simply pick the date and time you’d like to visit.

●The date or time you wish to visit has no availability. Please note that walk-up visits are available each day for those who arrive at the Museum without advance bookings. But this does depend on capacity, as walk-up entry cannot be guaranteed.

●To book tickets for exhibitions, click here. Your exhibition ticket also gives you access to the permanent collection.

●Entry to the Museum is via the Main entrance on Great Russell Street or the Montague Place entrance.

●Once you’ve gone through the Main entrance, an easy access queuing route is available for disabled visitors, visitors with pushchairs and/or children under five, Members, exhibition and general admission ticket-holders.

●All visitors must pass through a security check which involves a bag search.

We look forward to welcoming you.

3 . Liu Wenwen, 33, is the first suona (唢呐) player to study for a doctor’s degree. On China’s social media platforms, her name is often followed by a video of her live ________ at a concert in Sydney, Australia.

Born into a suona family, Liu Wenwen was ________ to play it at a very early age. In the 1990s, China’s reform and opening-up drive was in full swing, and people admired things that were modern and international. Suona, ________, was considered an art of the hillbilly (乡巴佬). Her classmates at primary school ________ her, saying her whole family was engaged only in “weddings and funerals (丧礼)”. Indeed, these are the two major ________ where suona is played in the countryside. Liu felt ashamed. “Despite my ________”, she recalled, “my parents would wake me up at 4 am every day and take me to practice outside in a park, ________ the instrument was so loud that it ________ the neighbors when I practiced at home.”

________, she didn’t fall in love with the instrument until she went to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. “The music played by Professor Liu Ying, a top player, is just ________, and different from what I heard before,” she said.

Liu Wenwen is also ________ in Shanghai. She loves exchanging ideas about suona playing techniques with her students. “It’s wonderful to see the younger generation ________ the cultural heritage.”

Liu Wenwen has promoted the “hillbilly” music to a(n) ________ audience. She said, “My hard work has ________. I trained for over 20 years, probably just to ________ cheers and applause for traditional Chinese music on the international stage.”

4 . Yoga has a well-deserved reputation for helping to improve balance and flexibility and for promoting calm and relaxation. But when it comes to weight loss, many people assume that other types of exercise, like cardio or strength training will be more helpful. While you might not burn as many calories (卡路里) by practicing yoga as you would by running or doing some other high-intensity aerobic activity (有氧运动), yoga can still raise your heart rate and help build muscle-and, at rest, muscle burns about twice as many calories as fat does. “Studies show that aerobic forms of exercise, which is any exercise that uses your large muscle groups and raises your heart rate, are beneficial for weight loss,” says Sally Sherwin, a yoga teacher with the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Yoga. “Power or vinyasa yoga, a type of high intensity yoga, fits this kind.”

Just how many calories you burn varies depending on how long and intense your exercise is, as well as other factors, such as your weight, age and gender. But according to Erin Casperson, lead faculty with the Kripalu Center for Yoga &Health, practicing yoga can also help you burn more calories long after you hit the mat, even if you don’t do more intense forms of yoga. That’s because yoga’s other benefits can help with weight loss too.

Yoga helps manage stress, and studies show that high levels of cortisol (皮质醇), a stress hormone, can lead to an increase in abdominal fat, Cortisol surges can also increase your cravings for high-fat and high sugar foods and drinks while simultaneously reducing your muscle mass. “Yoga has an impact on the body’s stress response and reduces the production of hormones linked to weight gain such as cortisol,” Erin Casperson says.

Several studies have confirmed that doing yoga does reduce cortisol levels. In one study, researchers found that practicing yoga seemed to impact the hypothalamus (下丘脑), reducing cortisol production. And a 2020 study found that doing meditative yoga reduced participants’ salivary cortisol levels.

7 . Cuba’s first all-female umpire(裁判)team is winning praises by umpiring at top-tier baseball games in a sport that is a national obsession on the island and long dominated by men.

Former baseball and softball player Janet Moreno has been the only one for 18 seasons as Cuba’s first top-league female umpire, but was joined by three others a few months ago. “Things are starting to change,” said Moreno, 49, wearing her black garb ahead of a recent game at Havana’s Latinoamericano Stadium. “This is the first time in the Americas that a team of women works the top league of a country.” On the field, Moreno wears dark sunglasses, firm and unflappable as Industriales and Pinar del Rio fight against each other. “The players have shown her great respect,” said Industriales catcher Oscar Valdes. “What matters is not your gender but who you are on the field and your passion for excellence.” The Cuban four, including Miroslava Cumba, Yalili Acosta and Milagros Quinones, are the only such group in global baseball, according to Cesar Valdes, head of rules and officiating for Cuba’s national baseball league. “We wanted to be ahead,” he said. Even in Major League Baseball, the world’s most watched baseball tournament, there has never been a female umpire.

Preparing for another game this week, the four women swapped jokes and said such camaraderie has helped their success. “I stay focused on my work on the field. I blank out what’s going on in the stands,” said Cumba, 43, who spent eight years previously umpiring youth baseball. Baseball is not the only sport becoming more inclusive: Cuba late last year staged its first official female boxing matches since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Moreno, who dreams of someday umpiring the Olympics or World Baseball Classic, jokes that her newfound fame does not mean she must give up her femininity. “When we go out (to umpire)we wear perfume, so that it feels like there is a flower on the field and the flower should not be mistreated,” she said.

8 . Traditionally, China’s astronauts are selected from among fighter plane pilots with enough flying experience, as they can control the machinery and have the training to stay calm in space.

Yet among the three astronaut s aboard Shenzhou XVI, which is taking them to Tiangong, China’s space station, is Gui Haichao, a professor from Beihang University. He is the first civilian that China has sent into space, and will conduct space science experiments, collect and analyze data and maintain the lab devices on the space station.

That’s good news for the nation’s space science, as he will be more professional in carrying out research experiments on the space station.

It is also good news for China’s astronautics sector, as it shows that the nation is confident enough to send persons other than military pilots into space. It means that the level for traveling into space is being lowered, offering hope that one day ordinary people will be able to buy a ticket for a trip into space.

Besides Gui, there is also Zhu Yangzhu, a space flight engineer from China’s astronaut team, who will serve as a profession al rather than a pilot. Zhu’s teaching experience in college, similar to that of Gui, is also evidence of Chinese astronauts’ educational background being raised.

Twenty years after Shenzhou V took China’s first astronaut Yang Liwei out of the Earth’s atmosphere, China already has a full team of astronauts ready to further our understanding of the cosmos(宇宙).

Mission commander Jing Haipeng is on his fourth trip into space, making him the Chinese astronaut with the richest experience in space travel. In the 15 years between his first mission and this one, China has progressed from sending astronauts into space to supporting their stay for half a year on its newly constructed space station.

9 . When it comes to choosing where to go for a vacation, what we’re going to eat and drink can be a big part of making travel plans.

Of course, it’s subjective according to personal tastes, but this is TV Travel’s take on some of the best food cultures and destinations around the world.

So, as you dream about where you’ll go next, which top 10 cuisines rule?

American Food

Many of the popular foods in the USA originate in some other cuisine. The pizza slice is Italian. Fries are Belgian or Dutch. Hamburgers and frankfurters? Likely German. But in the kitchens of the United States, they have been improved and added to-becoming global icons for food lovers everywhere.

Chinese Food

The people who greet each other with “Have you eaten yet?” are arguably the most food-obsessed in the world. But the Chinese don’t just cook and sell anything; they also make it taste great.

China’s regional cuisines are so different and it’s hard to believe they’re from the same nation. It’s not a food culture you can easily summarize except to say you’ll certainly want to taste.

French Food

If you’re one of those people who don’t like to eat because “there’s more to life than food,” then visit Paris. It’s a city known for its picky consumers, but they all believe in the importance of good food. Two-hour lunch breaks for three-course meals are common.

Italian Food

Italian food has been popular around the world for centuries, with its tasty tomato sauces, those clever things they do with wheat flour and desserts that are basically vehicles for cream.

It’s all so simple. Get some noodles, get some olive oil, and get some garlic, maybe a tomato or a slice of bacon. Bam! You have a party on a plate. And it is all so easy to cook and eat.

From the cheesy risottos to the crisp fried meats, Italian cuisine is a collection of crowd-pleasing comfort food. Many people have welcomed it into their homes, especially green hand cooks. There lies the real genius-Italian food has become everyman’s food.